Dir: Taika Waititi, New Zealand
88 minutes
Sundance Film Festival January 22, 2010
World Cinema – Dramatic
Audience Award Winner at Sydney Film Festival QANTAS BEST FEATURE FILM
The highest grossing NZ film of all time may be the best movie to come out of Australasia this year. Many films attempt to get inside the mind of a child, with mixed success. Here, success is total. James Rolleston (pictured) and his little brother Rocky, played by Te Aho Eketone Whitu, are both superb on screen. Their feckless father Alamein is played by director Taika Waititi, also to good effect.
The narrative maintains a fine balance between deadpan Maori humour, poignant observation and profound insights into the world of a child teetering on the edge of adolescence. Often played for laughs, there are also heartrending moments. Feelgood? Well, maybe, but in a way that is truthful and universally relevant.
More info: http://www.boythemovie.co.nz/
